The driving force behind innovative road safety learning

Emirates Driving Company is synonymous with excellence in the region, with various accolades to their title, exemplifying their efforts in expanding the notion of driver's education. Integrating international methods into their curriculum, they have officially collaborated with Swedish Road Authority, known as SWEROAD to surpass benchmarks in the region. "The process of developing a course or curriculum for Emirates Driving Company involves delving into the global market and reviewing the highest standards. We are passionate about working with specialists with international expertise who are committed towards developing material, which will create high assessment criteria. Sweden has set standards with the lowest accidents in the world, therefore their approach to road safety is ideal, and they have a superior training program making them the fitting partners in developing our courses," says the CEO.
Awarded the Sheikh Khalifa Excellency Award for their contributions towards creating benchmarks on an international level, the revered driving school believes that road safety is paramount. "Emirates Driving Company's approach has always been to create a safe environment by delivering superior training. Since the induction of our programmes, there has been reportage of decreased accidents in the UAE. We believe that in a multicultural region it is imperative to create a program with a universal appeal. Our goal is to align our learners at any level, with the standards of the UAE. To ensure that our learners are adapting to the curriculum, we offer training in five different languages and are diversifying our offerings constantly. Our strategy of integrating digitalisation as a force of innovation in EDC is prevalent. We are currently developing a concept for e-learning, which will incorporate a range of languages to cater towards numerous nationalities. E-learning will also enable users to take a class where the online interface will offer them language options, so they can understand the lesson."
Engaging learners
"In addition, we have partnerships underway with various international hubs for innovation. Currently we are discussing possibilities of a collaboration with an Austrian company, which has developed a virtual reality application focused on distraction. We are aware that speeding and distraction are the two main causes for accidents in the UAE and worldwide. Through simulating an accident caused by distraction in the virtual reality, we can ignite emotions in individuals of the sensation that occurs during an accident. This will make them comprehend and feel the severity of accidents. Furthermore, we recently tested an Australian application catered towards bus driving in virtual reality. Currently in a research phase, the application will be a remarkable endeavour in training heavy vehicle operators. We are very keen on implementing this over the course of next year," adds Al Mansoori.
After graduating with a financial services and banking degree at the Higher Colleges of Technology, CEO Khalid Al Mansoori held various positions in the Abu Dhabi Government, including at the Department of Finance and the Department of Economic Development. He was EDC's business development director in 2012, followed by his appointment as the Vice Chief Executive, and then promoted to CEO. Under his direction, EDC went through favourable shifts, which has prompted tremendous financial success and growth.
Prioritising Safety
"When you step into a vehicle, you are potentially operating a lethal weapon if handled inadequately. Therefore, we take students through a process of learning the importance of road safety, so they are fully aware of the repercussions of poor judgement on the road. It is crucial for our initiatives to be innovative to deliver training on the most advanced level and we have invested our efforts in studying our sectors in depth to leverage our experience," states the CEO.
Emirates Driving Company's mission and values have remained constant, to implement safety reforms and address solutions towards fatalities on the road through unparalleled training programmes. In their pursuit to engage learners, EDC sources the crème de le crème of specialists to assess and educate students. "We look for specific qualifications in our instructors which includes excellent communication and language skills. They also undergo internal training programmes, which is a requirement to ensure that they resonate with our value system. Our continuous review process is where our esteemed supervisors observe classroom and driving sessions with students, and offer the trainers duly feedback on ways to improve their delivery. There is a six-month cycle, which helps us to set the necessary goals to monitor their improvement and introduce more methods to enrich their training style. Recently, a German organisation trained our educators on maintenance and fuel management. This programme was beneficial in educating the instructors on how an individual's driving style creates an impact on the longevity and the quality of a vehicle, which is a crucial factor for multinational companies that have maintenance costs and fleet management tasks," relays Al Mansoori.
Creating awareness
There is a sense of entitlement among young learners who are eager to obtain their licence without weighing in the ramifications of having minimal regard towards the value of learning. "Our key instigator while training students is safety, we want to instil the values of keeping themselves, their passengers and pedestrians safe by engaging them in programmes which make safety measures innate for them. Therefore, we have the 'Safety Hall Program', which emphasises the importance of passengers, ensuring the safety of children and other dependants in the vehicle. In addition, our post licensing courses, or advanced driving courses, offer additional training to students who wish to gain more confidence in their abilities. Our defensive driving course is one of the most sought after by corporations with bigger fleets and we have three levels of desert driving training programmes, ranging from intermediate to advanced, which teach students to operate appropriate vehicles with special equipment," he adds.
"At EDC, our role is to go beyond helping students obtain their licence; we aim to build a culture by instilling principles that prioritise safety. We initiated a deep analysis into our company in the year 2016 and analysed all the growth prospects, and untapped potential. The year 2017 was a time of reflection for our team, where we planned our growth strategy projects by observing the needs of the market. For EDC, 2018 will be about executing these growth projects, and increasing our work force. We will continue to use innovation in all training aspects, through partnerships, and invest in the development of people and diversify as a company," concludes the CEO.

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